The Claim - Drinking Extra Fluids Helps Beat a Cold

The advice for conquering a cold is time-honored: Get plenty of rest and drink lots of fluids.

While it’s hard to argue against getting proper rest, some scientists suspect that loading up on liquid— that is, beyond the normal amount required in a day— may not do much good.

Theoretically, taking in extra beverages like water and juice helps replace fluids lost fromfeverand respiratory tract evaporation, and it helps loosen mucus. But when a team of scientists at the University of Queensland in Australia set out to determine whether this was indeed the case, they found a surprising dearth of data in the medical literature.

Fortheir report, published in the journal BMJ in 2004,“we examined references of relevant papers and contacted experts in the subject,” they wrote, yet were unable to find even a single clinical trial in the last four decades that specifically studied whether increased fluid intake reduced the severity of an infection.

They did find some evidence that in some children with moderate to severepneumonia, consuming extra fluids might contribute tohyponatremia, a blood-sodium deficiency. Butother scientists pointed out in responsethat those findings should not be extrapolated to any respiratory infections besides pneumonia.

Ultimately, the Australians did not argue against maintaining proper hydration during a cold or otherupper respiratory infection, but they said the advice to drink more fluids than usual should be rigorously studied because it is so widespread.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Studies have not validated the age-old advice to drink extra fluids to help beat a cold.ANAHAD O’CONNORscitimes@nytimes.com

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